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Broadband by town: gigabit availability ranked

By James Burfield, SEO consultant, Bath · Page updated 18 September 2026 · Ofcom Connected Nations

The median English or Welsh town of 20,000+ people has gigabit-capable broadband available to 94.9% of its homes, which makes the laggards the story: in Southport, 48.2% of homes still cannot order one.

Every figure is availability — what the network passing each home can deliver if ordered — from Ofcom's premises-level coverage data (network state July 2025), summed across each town's built-up area. Availability is not take-up: a town can be fully gigabit-capable while most households buy slower packages. There is no "average speed" column because Ofcom's speed data cannot be aggregated to towns honestly, and we do not publish figures that cannot be defended.

Lowest gigabit availability

#	Town	County	Gigabit	Superfast	Homes
1	Southport	Sefton	51.8%	99.1%	44,959
2	Rayleigh	Essex	58.0%	99.5%	14,339
3	Newquay	Cornwall	59.0%	93.8%	12,507
4	Hailsham	East Sussex	67.0%	99.1%	10,384
5	Thetford	Norfolk	69.6%	99.6%	10,715
6	Camborne	Cornwall	72.3%	94.4%	9,327
7	Rustington	West Sussex	74.5%	99.1%	17,153
8	Berkhamsted	Hertfordshire	74.7%	99.1%	9,372
9	Skelmersdale	Lancashire	74.8%	99.8%	15,813
10	Farnham	Surrey	75.2%	99.5%	8,962
11	Hastings	East Sussex	76.2%	99.7%	44,528
12	St Austell	Cornwall	76.3%	97.0%	11,343
13	Canterbury	Kent	76.7%	98.9%	22,181
14	Pontypridd	Rhondda Cynon Taf	77.4%	98.9%	14,654
15	Durham	County Durham	77.4%	99.2%	21,257
16	Bath	Bath and North East Somerset	77.7%	97.7%	42,633
17	Truro	Cornwall	78.8%	96.8%	10,887
18	King's Lynn	Norfolk	79.0%	98.9%	21,475
19	Falmouth	Cornwall	79.1%	93.0%	11,079
20	South Benfleet	Essex	79.4%	99.7%	21,111
21	Margate	Kent	79.7%	99.2%	31,250
22	Whitstable	Kent	79.9%	99.3%	16,223
23	Sudbury	Suffolk	79.9%	99.4%	11,282
24	Weymouth	Dorset	80.3%	99.8%	27,349
25	Bognor Regis	West Sussex	81.1%	99.5%	31,867
26	Leighton Buzzard	Central Bedfordshire	81.2%	98.6%	20,106
27	Oxford	Oxfordshire	81.3%	99.1%	66,200
28	Seaford	East Sussex	81.4%	99.4%	11,775
29	Aberdare	Rhondda Cynon Taf	81.5%	99.4%	18,161
30	Stroud	Gloucestershire	81.6%	98.4%	12,144

Highest gigabit availability

Kingston upon Hull's 100% is not a rounding artefact: Hull's network was built by KCOM rather than Openreach, and its full-fibre rollout finished citywide in 2019, years before anywhere else in Britain.

#	Town	County	Gigabit	Superfast	Homes
1	Kingston upon Hull	City of Kingston upon Hull	100.0%	100.0%	125,232
2	Beverley	East Riding of Yorkshire	100.0%	100.0%	16,211
3	Lee-on-the-Solent	Hampshire	99.6%	100.0%	11,359
4	Grimsby	North East Lincolnshire	99.5%	99.9%	38,527
5	Goole	East Riding of Yorkshire	99.4%	100.0%	9,155
6	Rotherham	Rotherham	99.3%	99.8%	31,759
7	Pudsey	City and Borough of Leeds	99.3%	100.0%	15,572
8	Ossett	City and Borough of Wakefield	99.3%	99.9%	10,093
9	Chadderton	Borough of Oldham	99.2%	99.8%	15,204
10	Swinton	City and Borough of Salford	99.2%	100.0%	10,362
11	Westhoughton	Borough of Bolton	99.2%	99.9%	10,246
12	Billingham	Stockton-on-Tees	99.1%	99.8%	15,599
13	Cleethorpes	North East Lincolnshire	99.1%	99.5%	13,789
14	Hartlepool	Hartlepool	99.0%	99.8%	43,201
15	Doncaster	Doncaster	99.0%	99.7%	40,876
16	Castleford	City and Borough of Wakefield	99.0%	99.8%	21,223
17	Farnworth	Borough of Bolton	99.0%	100.0%	12,452
18	Heanor	Derbyshire	99.0%	99.7%	11,064
19	Oadby	Leicestershire	99.0%	99.8%	9,281
20	Rowley Regis	Sandwell	98.9%	100.0%	15,469
21	Bridlington	East Riding of Yorkshire	98.9%	99.9%	18,376
22	Eston	Redcar and Cleveland	98.9%	99.6%	14,646
23	Oldham	Borough of Oldham	98.8%	100.0%	37,589
24	Solihull	Solihull	98.8%	99.7%	47,817
25	Ilkeston	Derbyshire	98.8%	100.0%	18,438
26	Golborne	Borough of Wigan	98.8%	99.6%	12,091
27	Loughborough	Leicestershire	98.7%	99.9%	24,944
28	Huyton	Knowsley	98.7%	99.7%	27,702
29	Whitley Bay	North Tyneside	98.7%	100.0%	16,379
30	Burntwood	Staffordshire	98.7%	100.0%	12,523

Source: Ofcom Connected Nations fixed-coverage data, residential premises, joined to ONS built-up areas at output-area level. England and Wales, towns of 20,000+ census residents; Ofcom's data covers Scotland and Northern Ireland too, but this site's town geography does not yet. Each town's own page carries its figures alongside prices, crime and the counted high street on the same boundary.

Common questions

Which UK town has the worst broadband?

Among towns of 20,000+ people, Southport in Sefton has the lowest gigabit availability: 51.8% of its 44,959 homes can order a gigabit-capable connection, against a median town's 94.9%. That is availability, not speed bought: it measures where the fibre build has not yet reached.

Which town has the best broadband?

Kingston upon Hull, at 100% gigabit availability across 125,232 homes. Hull is the one large English town whose network was built by KCOM rather than Openreach, and it finished its full-fibre rollout years before anywhere else, which is why it tops this table rather than a commuter suburb.

What does gigabit-capable mean?

That the network passing the home could deliver 1,000 Mbit/s download if that service were ordered, whether by full fibre or by an upgraded cable network. It says nothing about what households actually subscribe to: a street can be 100% gigabit-capable while every house on it buys a 35 Mbit/s package.

Why does my street feel slower than these figures?

Three reasons, in descending likelihood: the figure is availability rather than the package you pay for; these are town-wide shares, and your street can sit in the minority the percentage leaves out; and in-home wifi is usually the slowest link in the chain, which no network figure captures.